Brian Michael Bendis Heads To Gotham For ‘Batman Giant’

After months of anticipation and a pair of brief teases in the pages of ‘DC Nation #0’ and ‘Action Comics #1000‘ in May, the Brian Michael Bendis era of Superman has now officially gotten underway with the arrival of the weekly miniseries ‘Man of Steel’. Before it was known that he would be taking over the ‘Superman’ titles, though, the popular guess was that Bendis would be heading for Gotham City instead of Metropolis.

It almost made too much sense. The tone and style of a Batman book more closely fits that of the crime noir-infused series like ‘Powers’ or ‘Daredevil’ on which Bendis made his name, after all. But it was not to be. Or so it seemed.

While it may not have come quite in the way we might have expected, we’ve now learned that Bendis does, in fact, have a date with the Dark Knight Detective after all. Bendis’s inaugural encounter with the Batman will come in the form of original content produced for DC’s ‘100-Page Giant’ line of titles, specifically ‘Batman Giant’. Bendis’s Batman story will be a twelve-part tale kicking off in ‘Batman Giant #3’, which will go on sale in September. No artist has been announced at this time. As described in DC’s announcement, the story – dubbed ‘Universe’ – will see Batman deal with an encounter with the Riddler that “leads the Caped Crusader into a mystery that spans the globe.”

DC’s ‘Giant’ line (which will also include ‘Teen Titans Giant’ and ‘Superman Giant’) will feature a mixture of new and reprinted material and will be released exclusively through Wal-Mart stores. The books will carry a $4.99 cover price. The first issue of ‘Batman Giant’, which will be available beginning on July 1, 2018, will feature an original lead story by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Patrick Zircher, along with reprints of ‘Batman #608’ (the first issue of the now-classic ‘Hush’ storyline by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee), and a pair of ‘New 52’ debut issues from 2011, specifically ‘Nightwing #1’ and ‘Harley Quinn #1’.